Plans are at a very advanced stage at Jaguar for the launch of its brand new completely redesigned XJ. The days when all XJs looked the same since 1968 are over. The new XJ promises to be quite a radical departure for Jaguar’s design team, led by maestro Ian Callum who designed the successful new XF. Jaguar is aiming to attract those who are currently driving cars like the BMW 7 Series, Audi A8 or the Mercedes-Benz S-Class.
According to Jaguar MD Mike O'Driscoll, the new XJ 'takes, we believe, the luxury saloon to new heights in terms of its technical enhancements'. Head of Marketing at Jaguar SA Tania Cleary has confirmed that the XJ is well underway and will make its public debut as early as June 2009. What we aren’t sure about is whether it will shown first at the Detroit Motor Show or in Geneva.
In terms of the XJ’s design, Jaguar is expected to have taken styling cues from the XF but make the XJ even more elegant and sportier at the same time. That has resulted in the car looking more like a coupe than a sedan. The picture you see is an artist rendering from AutoExpress.
Engines will comprise of petrol and diesel derivatives, V6 and V8 configurations. A supercharged, top of the range XJR worth over 400kW will be sent to run after cars like the Mercedes-Benz S63 AMG and the upcoming BMW M7. We expect it to dash from 0 – 100km/h in just under 5 seconds.
The XJR promises to truly live up to Jaguar’s new mantra of “beautiful, fast cars”.
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